


Nous ne sommes pas dans l'amour

by orphan_account



Series: The Rules of Engagement [2]
Category: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Domestic Disputes, Domestic Violence, Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, M/M, Sexual Violence, Violent Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:29:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1610099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What they have isn't love.  It's more important than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nous ne sommes pas dans l'amour

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second installment of The Rules of Engagement series. It exists as a side-note to the series, but I still recommend reading "In the Beginning" first to understand how their unique relationship came about.

Basil Bartholomew and Padraic Ratigan are not in love.

 

Love is an emotional response.  It is a luxury for those who are not over-burdened with singular intellect and responsibility.  Love is the drawing together of two hearts, an act of idolatry and not necessity.  Love is a fickle creature, here and gone again in an ebb and flow of hormonal response, something altogether secondary to the necessary functions of life itself.  It is not for men such as these two.

 

That is not to say, however, that they are not irreversibly entwined.

 

The problem with love, you see, is that it can be negated or even snuffed entirely by such things as hate, anger and disloyalty.  Indeed, any of the many various and sundry realities of life can spell the death of something like 'love'.  No, what Ratigan and Basil have is as binding as birth and as certain as death.  What they have is an intense need to survive, to endure in a world that seems to slow for them.  What they have is fierce self-preservation, for what are they but an extension of one another, unable to exist without both halves?

 

There are days when Basil does not love Ratigan one little bit.  As a matter of fact, he loathes him.  There are days when his one-time nemesis pushes the boundaries of their contract and endangers those it was meant to protect.  There are days when Ratigan is arrogant and belittling and humiliates his lover out of a misguided need to prove that he is still in some way superior.  There are times when he is vulgar to a point where Basil is disgusted with him and wishes,  wishes , he didn't need him as badly as he does.  There are nights when the detective hates the way his mind goes blissfully quiet when he lies beside the pugnacious, brilliant rat.  There are certainly times when Basil hates his own traitorous heart for speeding up when Ratigan's eyes glint with mischief and the promise of a new puzzle to be solved.

 

Yet, when the lights go out and the time is no longer pressing, he always finds himself with the powerful gray rat, sharing his warmth.  Not because he loves him, but because he needs him.

There are days when Ratigan positively detests the spirited little nuisance who never seems to shut up.  More often than not, Basil's thrice-damned arrogance drives him to the limits of violence and beyond.  There are times when he is forced to knock the audacious little terror down a peg just to remind him who is dominant between them.  There are times when Basil is a cheeky, mouthy little monster and Ratigan seriously considers breaking the contract just to be done with him once and for all.  There are nights when Ratigan is ashamed of how weak he feels, calm finally stealing over him as he watches his detective sleep.  There are definitely times when the criminal mastermind damns his own eyes for the excitement he feels when he is outwitted by Basil for even half an instant.

 

Still, when darkness comes and the noise of his own mind grows too clamorous, he combs his claws through sand-coloured fur without drawing blood.  Not because he loves Basil, mind, but because...well...who would he be without him?

 

The great mouse detective knows what will become of his mind without an intellect as great as Ratigan's to challenge him.  He knows that there is no one who understands him as implicitly as the maniac sewer rat does.  Many know his greatness, but none can comprehend the repercussions of living in a world where everyone is always two steps behind, making him feel like he is constantly fighting uphill through molasses.  Many see him as a paragon of virtue, but he knows too well how lonely it is to be an ideal...not a man with faults and flaws.  Ratigan has no such pretty notions about him and will accept no pretenses about who and what he really is.  

 

The great criminal mastermind knows how easily one slips from brilliance to madness without a focus to hone the wits.  He knows well how greatness goes before the fall and therefore how convenient it is to have Basil racing at his heels and checking his progress.  It makes him choose his battles, figuring out which are worth fighting and parsing out the useless endeavours.  He also knows how utterly dull life is when one is merely a bogeyman...fear is grand, of course, but what a thrill when it is earned.  Basil never fears him without good reason and sometimes, only sometimes, he finds he doesn't want to be feared.  His detective only gives him what he earns.

 

Their relationship is torrid and fraught with violence and pitfalls (because they are certainly not in love).  On one occasion, Ratigan grew so incensed with one of his lover's impudent strops that the night ended in a beating and a fuck that left the smaller man unable to walk the next day.  Humiliated and damaged, Basil had not returned to his side for almost a month before his mind had nearly destroyed itself with indolence.  On another occasion (perhaps in revenge), Basil had made a deliberate, ugly mess of one of Ratigan's finest plans which resulted in a night in jail before the rat was able to escape.  His imposing lover had been so far beyond rage that he had disappeared out of London entirely for the better part of two months until he too felt the inexorable draw back to his only equal.

 

Yet sometimes, despite their pride and foul tempers, despite prickly feelings and being at cross purposes...sometimes they come together so perfectly that no one else could hope to understand.  Sometimes when they are between work and villainy, they can simply exist in quiet harmony as Basil and Ratigan, two men who never fought or undertook crime.  Sometimes, when the sound of English summer rain patters outside in the night, they make love tenderly instead of using sex as yet another weapon in their arsenals.  Sometimes they lie together afterwards, sleepy and still and Basil thinks that maybe he could love his mate.  Sometimes Basil's sense of sardonic banter hits Ratigan just right and he will laugh and think perhaps his mate is just a smidgen charming after all.

 

With madness, boredom and death their only alternatives, they accept what comes with their union.  Basil secretly doesn't resent when Ratigan insults him since it means he must work to be twice as clever in return.  No other could push him to exceed himself like that.  Ratigan privately thrills when Basil fights back against his occasional abuse because it shows him where his weaknesses are and where he must improve.  Who else could do such a thing for him?

 

Basil Bartholomew of Baker Street and Padraic Ratigan are most certainly not in love, but they will never escape each other all the same. 


End file.
